Currently, when a customer is filling out an insurance application or signing a set of mortgage papers, the customer will have to sign his or her name many different times on many different forms in order to complete the application or mortgage process. Also, with technological advances the application process is becoming more of an online process, as opposed to a paper process. However, the signature process is still primarily completed on paper, which is known as a wet signature. Electronic signatures are known in the art and are currently being used with credit card purchases and other one-time signature methods.
The current online application process is normally completed by the insurance agent with the help of the customer. Once the online application is completed, the agent then generates the required forms along with a fax cover sheet with a barcode. The generated online application is generally in PDF or other electronic paper format. The agent then prints off the PDF version of the application for the customer to wet sign. The agent obtains all the required wet signatures from the customer. This process can require a number of wet signatures by a single customer as well as multiple signatures from multiple customers. The customer may also need to wet initial many different areas in order to meet the application requirements.
Once the agent has the wet signatures, the agent indicates through the system that the wet signatures are in hand and acknowledges the legal agreement online. The agent will then initiate the submission action to start the data collection feed. Following the submission of the application online, the agent then faxes the fully wet signed application forms with the fax data cover sheet. The cover sheet is normally required to be faxed along with the online application forms in order to provide a tracking mechanism for the company and agent.
This same current process as described above can be very similar for other processes which require multiple forms and multiple signatures for completion, such as a mortgage application, bank application, loan application, or other more complicated financial transactions.